Video: Editing automation with the Trimmer and Grabber tools

The Trimmer and Grabber tools are both very handy for editing automation data. The grabber is great for creating and moving individual breakpoints. Let's zoom in on this track really quick, and I'll get the Grabber tool. You'll see the grabber turns into a pointer when it gets close to automation data. I can click on the track and create data points. If I click and drag a point, then I can move it all around. This is really great for fine-tuning your automation data.

Pro Tools 9 Essential Training with musician and producer David Franz demonstrates concepts and techniques necessary for recording, editing, mixing, and mastering in the industry-standard software for music and post-production. The course covers creating music with virtual instruments and plugins, editing with elastic audio for time and pitch manipulation, creating a musical score, and mixing with effects loops. Exercise files accompany the course.

Editing automation with the Trimmer and Grabber tools

The Trimmer and Grabber tools are both very handy for editing automation data.The grabber is great for creating and moving individual breakpoints.Let's zoom in on this track really quick, and I'll get the Grabber tool.You'll see the grabber turns into a pointer when it gets close to automation data.I can click on the track and create data points.If I click and drag a point, then I can move it all around.This is really great for fine-tuning your automation data.

With the trimmer, you can actually move entire sections of the automation data.So if I click and drag right here, you'll see that Pro Tools shows you thevolume level as well as the difference.The difference is that little triangle, or the delta value, and you'll see righthere it's that -9.2 dB.That's the difference between what the original value was and where it's at now.With the Trim tool, you can bring the overall track level up or down whilekeeping all of the relative level automation. Let me show you.

I am going to zoom out all the way and choose the Selector tool, select thiswhole area, and then go back to the trimmer, click, and drag.You'll see that the shape of all of the automation stays the same relatively,but it's all moving down by 10.9 dB.Now you'll notice at the end of the selected area new automation break pointswere made, and that's clear over here.I'll zoom in on it, so you can see it.

This is a new automation data point that Pro Tools created.If you want to suppress the creation of these break points, you can press Alt inWindows or Option in Mac while using the trimmer.So if we actually undo this trim automation, you'll see there's no data pointthere, and I'll zoom back out.I am going to press Option on the Mac or Alt in Windows, and I'll bring thisdown, and you see at the beginning, over here, the break point was not created;instead, the automation goes back to the very beginning level where there is a break point.

The Trimmer and the Grabber tool certainly have a lot of uses in the realm of automation.Practice these techniques, and you'll be able to edit automation very quickly.

Learn by watching, listening, and doing, Exercise files are the same files the author uses in the course, so you can download them and follow along Premium memberships include access to all exercise files in the library.

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Learn by watching, listening, and doing! Exercise files are the same files the author uses in the course, so you can download them and follow along. Exercise files are available with all Premium memberships.
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